Mechanical toy



E. E. PARKINS MECHANICAL TOY April 12, 1955 Flled April 6, 1955 II VVNTOR. Edgar E. Parklns ATTORNEY United States Patent MECHANICAL TOY Edgar E. Parkins, Lewiston, Idaho, assignor of forty per cent to Archie D. Parkins, Lapwai, Idaho Application April 6, 1953, Serial No. 346,868

Claims. (Cl. 46-42) This invention relates to an automatic toy and, more particularly, to devices of the class embodying a pivotally mounted angled arm adapted to pivot about the pivot point to remove blocks from a chute and deposit them upon the surface supporting the toy.

One object of the invention lies in the provision of a mechanical toy having a pivotal arm adapted to oscillate about its pivot by reason of a load supplied thereto from a storage container; said arm having a counterweight secured to one end thereof.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a mechanical toy which is strong and durable and which has the componented parts constructed and arranged so that the device may be readily knocked down and packed in a small space for shipping and may be erected very easily and secured by one fastening means.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a mechanical toy which, by reason of its construction and method of assembly, may be made very inexpensively.

Another object of the invention is to generally improve toys of the mechanical type which may be used for educa tional purposes, as well as to assist in developing the physical coordination of children.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation showing the improved toy and having a portion broken away for convenience of illustration;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the toy;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the pivotal arm and the load-receiving receptacle carried thereby; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the chute and the load-locking release mechanism associated with the chute.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I have illustrated the invention as comprising a supporting frame which, when viewed in side elevation, appears as a triangle having a substantially vertical supporting leg and an angularly disposed beam 11 secured to the leg 10 at its upper end by means of a conventional wood screw 12. The lower ends of the leg 10 and beam 11 are pivotally secured by means of pins 13 extending transversely through the adjoining end portions of the bars bind the leg 10 and beam 11. It will thus be-seen that removal of screw 12 will permit hinging movement of the leg 10 and bars 14 and the bars and leg folded or hinged to lie juxtaposed with relation to beam 11, for convenience in shipping or storing the toy.

The upper end of beam 11 carries a chute 15 which is secured to the upper face of the beam in any suitable manner and extends downwardly at an angle as does beam 11. The chute is adapted to receive a plurality of blocks 16 and is disposed at such an angle that the blocks will freely slide toward the lower end of the chute 15. The

. chute 15 is provided with a slide face 17 having the lower end portion angled at 18 to provide a discharge surface disposed at a greater angle relative to horizontal than the normal slide face 17 of the chute. The blocks contained in the chute are maintained therein by means of a wire loop or lip 19 which extends over the open lower end thereof and prevents the blocks from sliding downwardly.

The lip 19 is formed from a piece of resilient spring wire 20 which extends downwardly at an angle and is 'ice secured by suitable means such as staples 21 to the beam 11, substantially midway its length, and the wire extends upwardly upon the lip 19 outside of the chute 15 passing through a retarding guide 22 and supporting a bell or other amusing sound-producing element 23.

Substantially midway the length of the beam 11, I have drilled a downwardly angled hole 24 transversely of the beam 11 and at right angles to its axis and this hole 24 is somewhat enlarged over the diameter of the pivot pin 25 which extends therethrough. Upper and lower hearing plates 26 are secured to the upper and lower faces of the beam 11 and the pin is journaled therein and its means of a cotter key 27.

The pin 25 has a head 28 on its upper end and the body of the pin extends through arm 29 and pivotally mounts the arm on the angled beam 11 with the arm disposed axially parallel with the beam. The lower end of the arm 29 is provided with an eccentric counterweight 30 which normally maintains the arm position relative to the beam 11.

The upper end of the arm is provided with a plate 31 extending beyond the end of the arm 29 and this plate has a depending wire 20 for the purpose of momentarily shifting the lip 19 away from the locking engagement with the blocks 16. As the lip 19 is moved away, out of the chute end and the lip springs back to lock the remaining blocks within the chute.

A receptacle or bucket 33 is pivotally mounted at 34 upon the plate 31 and is disposed on one side of the plate to receive the blocks as they are individually discharged from the chute 15. The bucket 33 is substantially troughshaped and has a lower or bottom corner 35 defined by its front and rear right angled walls 36 and 37 and because of gravity this corner 35 normally hangs vertically below the pivot point 34. Inspection of Figure 1 will show that in the event the bucket 33 should swing a little beyond the vertical position, the bucket would catch upon the beam 11 in the position shown in Figure 2 and pre-'; vent the arm 29 from swinging over to release the block 16, therefore, I have provided a limp cord or string 38 which is secured substantially midway the length of beam 11 and at the opposed end to the bucket 33.

When the lowermost block 16 is discharged into the bucket 33, the weight of the block and the bucket overcome the weight of the counterweight 30 and gravity causes the arm to pivot about the pin 25 to bring the bucket to the lower end of the device. Here again, if the bucket 33 should swing normally on pivot 34 the block would not be discharged and the toy would be inoperative. The string 38, however, causes the bucket to tilt upwardly, that is, causes the upper wall 36 to maintain a plane parallel with the axis of the arm and, therefore, the blocks are discharged from the bucket at the lower end.

I am aware of the fact that there are some toys which apparently operate in a similar manner to discharge round balls or marbles from a raised storage receptacle. However, to my knowledge there is no toy similarly constructed which will function with blocks. When balls or marbles are used, there is little difliculty in forming a stop or gate mechanism to discharge the marbles independently. With blocks, the problem confronting one is dilferent and the necessity of separating the blocks to be discharged from the remaining blocks in the chute in the past has provided a real problem.

By providing the greater angled discharge surface 18,

- the initial block accelerates sufiiciently faster than the other blocks to permit the lip 19 re-entrance between the blocks.

The momentum of arm 29 after it has discharged a block from the bucket 33 and by means of counterweight 30 causes the arm 29 to pivot beyond the position shown in Figure 2, the lip 32 thus strikes wire 20 and momentarily shifts the lip 19 to release a single block from chute 15 into the bucket 33. The device will operate as long as there are blocks in the chute.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. An automatic toy comprising a supporting frame; an inclined chute carried by the frame and having an open discharge end and a slide face at the bottom of the chute;

in a slightly offset angular' lip 32 which is adapted to strike the' the lowermost block moves and dispgsedat a greater angle from horizontal with respect to the slide face; to effect more rapid acceleration of the lowermost block of. a plurality of independent blocks in the chute; a resiliently biased lip-normally dis: posed in covering relation to a portion of the discharge end of said chute, whereby the blocks are held; an inclined arm pivotally mounted on said frame and having a counterweight on its normally lower end and a pivotally carried receptacle on its normally raised end; means for controlling the pivotal movement of the receptacle to tilt the receptacle at the low end of its travel to discharge its contents; said arm when pivoting upwardly being disposed to strike said lip whereby the lip is momentarily moved to permit discharge of one block from the chute into the receptacle; and said blocks each being sufficiently heavy when combined with the receptacle to overbalance the counterweight and permit the arm to swing downwardly for discharging the block. t

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the means for controlling the bucket is a limp predetermined length of string secured at one end to the receptacle at a low point and at the other to the frame at a point adjacent to the pivot point of said arm and to the side toward which the receptacle swings; whereby the receptacle is pivoted and caused to assume the positions required when receiving and discharging a block.

4 3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said arm is provided with a plate extending axially therefrom andto'which'said receptacle 'is pivotally'unitedj'said plate having a depending lip arranged to strike said resiliently biased lip to release said blocks successively.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the frame comprises a substantially vertical leg releasably secured at its upper end to a downwardly inclined beam; and spaced horizontally disposed bars at and extending between the lower ends of said leg and beam and secured thereto at its opposed ends by means of transversely disposed pins extending through the adjoining portions of the frame elements.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the resiliently biased lip comprises an elongated spring wire secured at a pointremoved from the open end of the chute and has a loop formed therein to provide the stop portion at said open end; and a movement retarding guide for the lip opposed to the secured end of the spring wire.

7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,301,552 Gaines Apr. 22, 1919 

